Consider Oak Ridge North businesses, too

Published
6:14 pm CDT, Saturday, October 6, 2012

To the editor:

Andre Klein, of The Woodlands, stated in his letter that the proposed flyover at Research Forest is what the people want. Maybe so, but as a 20-year-plus resident of Oak Ridge North, don’t include me with your majority.

The city of Oak Ridge North’s Economic Development Council and a group of dedicated citizens who serve on a Community Planning and Action Committee are actively seeking innovative ways to attract businesses to the east side of the freeway. Sales tax dollars spent at the businesses along the feeder road not only help keep our property taxes at an affordable rate, but they are also an integral part of funding for our police department.

The men who gathered and met in the late 1960s in what you deem as “a run-down grocery store” had a vision to make our community a real hometown: a place where families could comfortably live and enjoy spacious lots, mature trees and excellent schools.

When news of the Woodlands Parkway flyover was delivered to our city, I asked the pertinent question about how it would affect our shopping area. I was told that the entire plan had been designed in the 1970s and there had not been any protests. My fault for not moving here sooner, I suppose.

May I suggest that the next time you are on your way home that you stop and shop or dine in Oak Ridge North? You may be surprised to find that some of your neighbors enjoy the convenience of a clean and updated grocery store; and when you and your friends are waiting in line on a busy weekend night at one of The Woodlands restaurants, those same neighbors are having a pleasant experience after immediate seating at one the great dining establishments on our side of the freeway.

Charis Beal

Oak Ridge North

Commissioners, county pull an end run again

To the editor:

Thank you, Julie Turner, for an excellent article on what is happening at Commissioner Court in Wednesday’s Courier. I called my Precinct 1 County Commissioner Mike Meador, and he told me the position for the attorney for the Sheriff’s Office was approved four or five years ago. He did not say it had ever been filled.

Now having worked with budgets before, if you do not fill a position, then that position disappears, does it not? Meador never said the position was ever re-approved. Do I smell a skunk in the woodpile here?

I then asked him if the position had to be funded. He replied, “We (I took this to mean county commissioners) had funded this position at our last meeting.” I asked him to give the new county attorney a chance to work things out with the Sheriff’s Office and not duplicate effort as it is only three months before the new man takes office. Meador’s response was, “That is up to the sheriff.” Do I detect a wee bit of kingdom building here?

I have been around about a dozen sheriff’s offices in Central Texas doing law enforcement work, and not one of them had a lawyer attached to their office. They all relied on the county attorney for that effort. Keep up the good work.

It is time we the voter woke up and took up the challenge to re-elect no one. Start over with a clean slate.